Weft stop motion for narrow ware looms



v Aug. 1944.`V E R, HOLMES 2,356,458

WEFT STOP MOTION FOR NARROW WARE LOOMS Filed May 8, 1945 l AT roRNzYPatented Aug. 22, 1944 WEFT STOP MOTION FOR NARROW WARE.

LOOMS= ElbridgeR. Holmes, Worcester, Mass., assignorto Crompton &Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of MassachusettsApplication May 8, 1943, Serial'No. 486,238

13 Claims.`

This invention relates to improvements in nar? row ware looms and .it isthe general object of the invention to provide improved means forstopping the loom, or effecting a change in the loom, should the weft ina shuttle be broken or exhausted.

Narrow ware looms'operate with a bank of shuttles which are moved backand forth through relatively narrow sheds by rack and pinion mechanism.The weft is wound on quills extending lengthwise of the shuttle andtensioning mechanisms mounted on the shuttle provide an angular pathwhich the weft traverses from the quill to the delivery eye of theshuttle. Because of the nature of the weft system within the shuttle ithas not been practical in the past to determine weft breakage orexhaustion. It is an important object of my present invention to mount adetector on the shuttle and locate it within the overall outline of theshuttleso that it will not interfere with the warpthreads whentheshuttle. is passing through the shed, and construct the detector so thatupon weft fault it will fall'to .an indicating position outsidetheoverall outline'of the shuttle and cooperatewith means to bring about achange in actuator loom operation, such as stoppage.

Due to the forward movement of the lay which -Y carries the shuttles anymoving detector inthe shuttle should be so constructed that it willV notlee-materially effected by momentumas the lay advances. It isaccordingly a further objectof my pre-sent invention to mount thedetector fso that it moves around a kpivotwhich is ,substantiallyparallel to the direction in which the shuttle advances as the lay beatsup.

The aforesaid guide mechanism for the weft within the shuttle generallyincludes a pair 'of eyes through whichthe weft is threaded. These eyes,together with the delivery eye of theyshuttle and a third eye, determinethe weft path whenthe thread is taut. It is another object of my presentinvention to mount the detector in such a position in the shuttlethat itwill be located below that portion of the thread path extending betweenthe aforesaid guide eyes and not interfere with the thread.

Itis a further object of my presentiinvention to provide the loom with aform of electric switch which is closed during advance'movement ofthelay when the detector has fallen to indicating position due to weftfailure. This feature of my invention may include a resiliently mountedplunger normally extending under the shuttle at frontcenter and belowthe` detector when the thread is intact but positioned to be engaged bythe detector upon weft failure. The plunger is then moved forwardly toclose an electric' switch in circuit with loom stopping mechanism.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, my invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth. i

In the accompanying drawing, wherein a con'- venientembodiment of myinvention is set forth, Fig. l is a front elevation ofaportion of thelay and breast beam of afnarrowware'lom showing my invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged Vplan viewY looking in they direction of arrow2,-Fig. 1, with the `mechanism in non-indicating position, Fig. 3 is anenlarged sectionA on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 showing the shuttle detector innon-indicating positionin full lines and inV indicating position indottedl lines,

Fig. 4 is anenlarged detailed section orn line 4 40fFig.2,f-j Fig. 5 isa diagrammatic view ofor-ie type of controlelectric circuit which` canlbe used with my invention, and y Z y Y' V Fig. 6 is an enlargedtransverse 'sectionY on line ,-6ofFig.2. Referring particularly to "1and 2,11Lhave slihwn ajlay III of axnarrowl ware loom provided .ingv theweftsupply W is mounted on the pini I1 and. is engaged by a. frictionpad I9 of the usual type. li/,lountecl at the sidespf lthe openingr I6are 'right ,and left handv guide. eyes zul an@ 2 1, respectively, whilethe. .front 'or bowed `wallj'22 of the shuttle is provided with a thirdguide v,eye 23 .and 4a weft delivery eye 24.. The weft'wll ordinarilyfollow the` path indicated in.: 2, y' leading forwardly from lthe quillIllv t'o thecentral veye .23, then to one of theside eyes, as 20J thenvracross the space .I 6 to. the other Yey1e.2I,.an d` thence to and .outofthe delivery eyel24j. YItis customary Lto mount the guide eyes. 20.`and,2ly on springs not shown-which are .embedded in'the bodygf]Y theshuttle. Mechanism jiricludijng.,piriions'y and a rack 3| .causetheshuttles lDQ'ESWt-.rtg bgg-,k

Voperation of my invention. This means includes a shaft which rotatesduring .loom operation and has a cam 36 to rock a lever31 mounted on afixed pivot 38. A knock-off lever 36 movable above a Xed pivot 40 isconnected to a rod 4| extending to the loom. shipper mechanism not shownand also has pivoted thereto .a link 42. L A normally deenergizedsolenoid 43 has a core 44 operatively connected to the link42, and aweighted positioner 45 is pivotedunder the link 42.

15j I l f/screws 82. Arm 46 of lever 31 has a working stroke to theright as viewed in Fig. 5 for each rotationof camv 36. Arm 46 isundercut as at 41 so that it passes over the left end of link 42 whenthe latter is'A Aposition shown in dotted Ato the right to Vrock theknock-off lever 39 and rod -4| to theright to operate'the shippermechanism and stop the loom.A l Y Y 'I'he knock-off mechanism 'andcontrol therefor shown in Fig. 5 is illustrated as one way in which myinvention may be utilized and for further description of its structureandloperation reference may be had to Payne Patent No. 1,873,465. K

Except as noted hereinafter the matter thus -far described is of commonconstruction and may be made in the usual manner. VVIf desired theshuttle blocks can have horizontal slots and the shuttles made straightso that they pass from jone block to the other in ,-avpath parallel tothe lay.- form Vof-shuttle and shuttle block is very common and I havenot illustrated it herein but wish it-to be understood that my inventionis not limited to the use of arcuatefshuttles.

Referring .more particularlyto Figs. 2 and 3,

itjwfill beseen thatlhaveprovided Ythe inside kforward walls of theshuttle with right and left hand .supports 50 and 5|, respectively, towhich 4rigl'it and left handdetector links 52 and 53 'are Vpivoted as at54., Stops` V carried by the for- Ward shuttle wall Aoverhang the linksand limit V*their upward movementslas indicated more par,- ticularly inYFig. 3 to keep the Ylinks below the weft path previously described. Theright'hand link 52 is Aprovided with a longitudinal slot 60 whichAreceivesla pin, 6|.s'ecured to the left link 53. The adjacent jointedends of Vthe'ilinks are rounded as indicated in Fig. 3 andthe pin andslot connectionl between them, requires that they move togetherangularly.' y

1 The breast beam |55l off the loom carries a stand 66. provided with arearwardly extending sup- -port`.61 held' to `the standby a bolt 68passiner through a slot 6,9 in the support to permit back and forthadjustment of* the .support with re- Irspe'ct .tothe breast beam` andthe {sweep of the V `la'y."As 'shown inFig.4 4' the rear part of thesup- Vportf|51 is provided with abore 10 in which is 'sldably mounted' avplunger 1| the front end of which isj providedlwith a. stem"12 slidableon the support 61 and'surrounded by' a. lightv compres- The weightpositioner 45 then swings sion spring 13 located in the forward part ofthe bore 10. 'I'he rear part of the plunger 1| extends beyond the rearend of the support 61 and is provided with an electric conductingferrule 15 held to the plunger in any approved manner, as by prongs 16.A pin 11, see Figs. 2 and 6, secured to plunger 1| extends through slot18 in'. the support 61 to guide `and limit rear motion of? the plungerrelatively to the support. Both the plunger and the support 61 are madepreferably' of electric insulating material such as fiber so that theferrule 15 is insulated from the support.

-The right and left rear sides of the support 61 .are provided withelectric spring contacts and 8|, respectively, held to the support byContact 80 connects electrically with a wire 83 while the other contact8| is connected electrically with wire 84.

The support 61 is held in such position on the stand` 66 that theplunger is below the shuttle 'path and the spring 13 ordinarily holdsthe plunger rearwardly with vthe ferrule 15 located behind and out ofcontact with the spring contacts 80' and 8|.- If desired,` the springcontacts can be made strong enough to hold the plunger 1| forwardly byfrictional engagement lwith ferrule 15 against the action of coil spring13, in which case rearward movement of the Aplunger to normal positionsubsequent to for-- ward motion is effected manually.

In operation, the weft extends forwardly from `the quill I8 under thejointed links and then vpasses through the control or intermediate guide'eye 23. The tension of the weft is sufficient to :maintain the jointedlinks in the full line posi- Ytionshown in Fig. 3 and as the lay beatsup it vpasses overl the plunger 1| Without moving the latter. As theweft unwinds fromY the quill it lslides back vand forth under the links52 and 53 ."andtheir rounded jointed ends. If the weft in 'the -shuttleshould break or become slack the Adetector links 52 or 53, beingunsupported by the weft, will fall byA gravity to the dotted lineposition shown in Fig. 3 and on the next forward movement'of the shuttlethe detector links will Iengage therear end of the plunger 1| as will beunderstood from reference to Fig. 3 and move the Vplunger forwardly tolocate the ferrule 15 vbetween and in engagement with the contacts 160and 8| to close thecircuit indicated in Fig. 5. The pivots 54 are soconstructed as to support lthe-links `against the rearward thrust ofplunger 11|. Y I f The -circuit comprises a source of electric 'power Eone Side of which is grounded by wires and the other side of which isconnected to Vthe wire 84. Wire 83 is connected to one side ofthefsolenoid 43 and the other side of the latter is connected by wire 9|tothe ground. Closure of this circuit by forward movement of the ferrule15 to indicating position as shown in Fig. 5 @causes energization of thesolenoid 43 with; resultantrupward movement of the link 42 in the pathof arm 46 to effect loom stoppage .as already described. `When theweaver corrects the defect in lthe weft, either by replacing anexhausted quill y |8 or reestablishing. normal weft tension, theforwardly extending strand of the weft will again infime-detector links52 and 53 to their normal non-indicating fullline position shown in Fig..3. The cam 36 can if desired rotate every second `pick ofthe looni tomove lever arm 46 to the -right shortly afterv the lay'reachesVfrontcenter onalternate" beats whenthe shuttle is on block 9| 1' Theoperation of the invention is :not limitplunger 'H forwardly by springcontacts 80 and 8| after the lay leaves front center is to permit anyelectric circuit which may be used to remain closed independently of thelay position. I am not limited tothe relation mentioned between thestrengths of spring 13 and the contacts 80 and 8|, however, and spring13 can be made strong enough to return the plunger 1| to normal rearposition automatically as the lay recedes.

It will be seen from Fig. 2 that certain parts of the weft in theshuttle cross the vertical plane n which th links 52 and 53 swing, andit Will further be noted that the part of the weft eX- tending betweenthe eyes and 2l is more or less parallel to the links. In Fig.V 2, thislast named part of the weft vis shown as spaced a relatively largedistance from the detector links for the sake cf clarity, but in actualpractice, with certain types of shuttles at least, this part Yof thethread will lie close to the parallel links.

The stops 55 prevent any possible interference between the weft when itis under normal tension and the detector links 52 and 53, and the latterare kept below the plane in which lies that part of the weft extendingbetween the eyes. Because of this relationship there is little or no.danger that the weft will be entangled with the jointed ends of thedetector links.

As the lay advances the links 52 and 53 tend by their momentum to move'frontw'ardly and unless the links were correctly pivoted they mightswing to a position above the plunger ll. By referring to Figs. 2 and 3it will be seen that the link pivots have their axes disposed more orless parallel to the 'direction of advance of the lay and the linkstherefore fall to 'and remain in .proper indicating position withoutinterference by their momentum.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a simple form ofcontrol for narrow ware looms wherein the shuttle is provided with adetector element normally held raised bythe weft when the latter isunderproper tension. When weft tension fails, as by lexhaustion of the quillor undue slackness, the links 52 and 53 fall from their normal to'indicating position s0 that forward movement of the shuttle with the4lay can establish contact between 'the ferrul'e 15 vand the springcontacts 8!! and 8l. Itfwill be noted that the detector links move in aplane which is transverse of the direction in which the shuttle advancesand are held by their pivots against objectionable forward displacementdue to their momentum as the lay advances. Furthermore, the detectorlink pivots and their stops are so located as to maintain the detectingmechanism below the plane normally occupied by the weft when the latteris under -proper tension. Also, the link pivots 54 are so disposed thatthe links never strike the quill to injure its weft.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do notV wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In a weft stop mechanism for a narrow ware loom having areciprocating lay, a shuttle on 'the lay having a weft quill, a detectorin the shuttle normally supported by the weft when the latter is underproper tension and falling to an indicating position when unsupported bythe weft, a normally open electric switch on the loom, means operated bythe detector when the latter is in indicating position during forwardmovement of the lay to close said switch, said switch constructed tohold the means in position to maintain the switch closed during backwardmovement of the day, and an electric control circuit for the loom closedwhen said switch is closed.

2. In a weft stop mechanism for a narrow ware loom having areciprocating lay and a frame,y adetector in the shuttle held in normalposition by the weft when the latter is under normal tension and movingto indicating position below the normal position thereof whenunsupported by the weft, a plunger for cooperation with the indicator,means to mount the plunger on the loom frame for forward motion belowthe shuttle and in the path traversed by the indicator when the latteris in indicating position during forward movevment of the lay, andelectrically controlled means for the loom includingr a normally openelectric switch closed by the plunger when the latter is moved forwardlyby the indicator in indicating position as the lay advances. l

A3. In aweft stop mechanism for a narrow ware loom having areciprocating lay and a frame, a detector in the shuttle held in normalraised position by the weft when the latter is under proper tension andmoving to an indicating position below the normal position thereof whenunsupported by theweft, a normally open electric switch mounted on theloom' frame, normally open electric circuit control means for the loomclcsable ,by the switch to effect .a change in l-oom operation, and aswitch closer below the advancing path of the detector when the latteris in normal position but in position to be actuated by thedetector'when the latter is in indicating position during advancemovement of the lay to close said switch.

4. In weft stopping mechanism for a narrow ware loom having a shuttle ona reciprocating lay, loom controller means including a part forward ofthe shuttle and normally in non-controlling. position butmovableforwardly to controlling position, a detector within the shuttlesupported in normal raised position by the weft when the latter is underproper tension and moving pivotally to indicating position whenunsupported by weft, and a pivotal support for the detector carried Ybythe shuttleand having an axis which is substantially parallel to theback and forth motion of the lay, to the end that the detector movespivotally from normal to indicating position about the pivotal supportthereof independently of momentum of the detector due to forwardmovement thereof with the shuttle.

5. In a narrow ware loom having a backwardly and forwardly reciprocatinglay provided with a shuttle, a loom controller normally innon-controlling position but movable to controlling position, a pair ofspaced parallel pivots on the shuttle the aXes of which are parallel tothe back and forth motion of the lay, a link mounted for angularmovement on each pivot, and means to connect the ends of the linksremote from their pivots, the weft when under proper tension effectiveto hold said links in raised normal positionV and said links whenv-unsupported by the weft falling about theirv pivots to an indicatingposition, for engagement with the controller to move the latter tocontrolling position by a force derived from the lay as the latter movesforwardly.

6. In a narrow Ware loom having a horizontally reciprocating layprovided with a shuttle having a weft quill rotatably mounted thereon,weft guides carried by the shuttle through which theV weft from theshuttle passes, said guides causing the weft extending between them tomaintain a given level when the weft is under proper tension, a weftdetector movably mounted on the shuttle normally supported innon-indicating position by the weft when the latter is under propertension and moving to indicating position when unsupported by the weft,means to prevent said detector from moving upwardly to said level, andcontrol means for the loom set in operation during forward movement ofthe lay when the. de-

the shuttle and movable in a plane crossing said.I

given level, stop means for the detector cooperating with the weft whenthe latter is under proper tension to maintain the detector innonindicating. position below said given level, said detector whenunsupported by the weft vmoving to indicating position, and means set inoperation by the detector when the latter is in indicating positionduring forward movement of the lay to control the loom. v

8. In a narrow ware loomj having a horizontally reciprocating layprovided with a shuttle carrying a. rotatable weft quill, guide means onthe shuttle causing the weft when the latter is under proper tension totraverse ,a given path between said guides, a weft detector in theshut-v tle movable in a plane toward and from ,said path, means carriedby the shuttle cooperating with the weft when the latter is under propertension to maintain said detector in normal position below said path,said detector when unsupported by the weft falling to indicatingposition, and means set in motion by the detector when the latter is inindicating position during forward movement of the lay to control theloom.

9. In a narrow ware loom having a horizontally reciprocating layprovided with a shuttle carrying a rotatable weft quill, guide eyescarried by the shuttle to receive' the weft from the quill and cause theweft when under proper tension to traverse a given path, weft detectormechanism in the shuttle including two jointed links pivoted on theshuttle and movable toward and from said given path, said linkssupported in non-indicating position by a strand of the weft leadingfrom the quill from one ofsaid guide eyes when the weft is under normaltension, said detecting mechanism moving to indicatingposition-whenunsupported by the weft, stop means `carried by the shuttle to preventmovement of said jointed links to said given path, and means set inmotion by the detector when in indicating position during forwardmovement of the lay to effect a change in the operation of the loom. f

10. In a narrow ware loom 'shuttle having a body and a weft quillrotatably mounted in a weft chamber in the body, weft guide eyessupported by the body and dening a path for weft drawn fromthe quill, aweft detector pivotally mounted on the' body and movable in a planecrossing said path, and means to confine the pivotal movement of thedetector to a zone below said path.

11. In a narrow ware loom shuttle having a body and a weft quillrotatably mounted in a weft chamber in the body, a pair of jointed weftdetector links 'extending in the direction of the length of said quill,and pivotal supports-on said body for the remote ends of said linksextending transversely of said quill and requiring the links to move ina plane spaced from said quill.

i 12. VIn a narrow ware'loom'shuttle having a body and a weft quill'rotatably mounted ina weft chamber in the body, a weit guideV eyeon saidbody, and weft detector mechanism mounted on the shuttle body between'`said quill and said eye and supported by a weft'extending from the quillto the eye, said mechanisrncomprising jointed links and pivots fortheremote endsof said links extending in such a direction as tov causethelinks to move angularly in a plane between said eye and said` quill.

13. In a narrow ware loom shuttle having a body and a weft quillrotatably mountedin a weftV chamber in the body, a weft guide eye onsaid body, and weft detector mechanismmounted on the shuttle bodybetween said quill and said eye and supported by a weft extending fromthe quill to the eye, said mechanism comprising a pair of parallelpivotal supports, one on each side of said chamber, a detector linkpivoted to each support and extending toward the other support in` adirection substantially parallel to said quill, and means joining theadjacent ends of said links.

ELBRIDGE R. HOLMES.

